Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Sells 737 Shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its stake in shares of Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 91,505 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after selling 737 shares during the quarter. Accenture comprises 2.6% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Accenture were worth $32,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. United Bank boosted its holdings in Accenture by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 2,969 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Accenture by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Weitz Investment Management Inc. now owns 89,400 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $30,148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter. Fund Management at Engine No. 1 LLC purchased a new stake in Accenture during the first quarter worth about $1,805,000. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.6% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 7,292 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,459,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Accenture by 104.8% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 441,451 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock worth $148,871,000 after acquiring an additional 225,943 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Accenture from $335.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Citigroup cut their price target on Accenture from $430.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho restated a “buy” rating and issued a $398.00 target price (down from $426.00) on shares of Accenture in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Accenture from $400.00 to $417.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Accenture from $363.00 to $350.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.00.

Accenture Trading Up 1.5 %

ACN stock opened at $346.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $217.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $369.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.38. Accenture plc has a 12-month low of $261.68 and a 12-month high of $387.51.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 21st. The information technology services provider reported $2.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.11. Accenture had a return on equity of 28.30% and a net margin of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $15.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.69 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Accenture plc will post 12.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 11th will be paid a $1.29 dividend. This represents a $5.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 10th. Accenture’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total transaction of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,937,824.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Accenture news, COO John F. Walsh sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $332.13, for a total transaction of $2,657,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 17,877 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,937,488.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Joel Unruch sold 4,333 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.83, for a total value of $1,611,139.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 34,795 shares in the company, valued at $12,937,824.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,000 shares of company stock valued at $11,146,998 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.